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Why Liberals Really Hate Sarah Palin

I’ve always been puzzled by the way that common folks come to develop a full-blown hatred of political figures. I understand it for Hitler or Stalin, I suppose, or even Gadhafi. But it really bothers me when I hear folks declaring hatred for any American politician, regardless of political stripe.

Now, if we’re to believe the grand narrative presented by the left-leaning media, we know a couple of things about political hatred:

Folks on the right hate Obama, and

It’s because he’s black.

Frankly, it’s hard to dispute this. Of the folks I know on the right who have declared hatred for Obama, overwhelmingly they seem to hold to racist views. Other folks – such as myself – passionately disagree with Obama’s political philosophy, but don’t hate the man by any means.

(I would argue, however, that the number of folks on the right who truly hate Obama is relatively small. Most fall into that latter camp.)

On the right, however, no one is hated more than Sarah Palin.

I recently asked my Facebook friends, many of whom would prefer to have Gadhafi in the White House over Sarah Palin, what exactly it is about this woman that inspires such raging vitriol and hatred. The replies I received were varied and interesting. Here’s a sampling:

“She’s too ditzy to hold public office. Alaska is better without her.”

“Palin scares me. She’s way too violent.”

“I can’t even explain it. I see her or hear her voice and my blood just boils!”

“She’s single-handedly set women’s rights back 50 years.”

Now, I learned several things from this little experiment. It was interesting to me that not one person said it was because they disagree with Palin’s political philosophy. It’s also interesting to me that only one of the respondents bothered to suggest that they didn’t “hate” Sarah Palin.

But more than this, I noticed a common thread. People that hate Sarah Palin believe that she is shrill, dumb, and violent.

In other words, they believe she’s a loud, angry and stupid broad.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Those on the left are champions of gender equality, right? That sexism only exists in conservative Christian churches where wives are commanded to “obey their husbands.” Well, you’d be wrong.

Notice, if you will, the descriptors assigned to Palin:

“Ditzy.” Doesn’t the very word conjure up negative gender stereotypes?

“Dumb.” A companion to “ditzy,” this criticism conjures up images of Homework Barbie declaring “Math is hard!”

“Shrill.” Much has been done in gender studies over the past decade to demonstrate how this image of the “shrew” is terribly, terribly harmful to women.

“Violent.” Now, this one especially interests me. I truly think that this, in some ways, reflects the underlying fear of strong women that many men and women have. At best, it suggests that she’s not particularly feminine; at worst it suggests she’s domineering and destructive.

Now, tell me this: Who has done more to set women’s rights back? The female governor of Alaska, who was also the first female Republican vice presidential candidate? Or the crazy lefty critics who try to paint her as a loud, angry and stupid broad?